Surprise customers with random acts of kindness: reward your social network with a discount code when your reach 20,000 followers

Send followers who go above and beyond in adding value to your company a product or service, a handwritten note or a gift

Send customers a surprise on special occasions: after their first purchase, one year anniversary of their first purchase, their birthday, holidays

Surprises are great ways to build word-of-mouth marketing

Customers who get treated are likely to share their experience with their network

Since social media conversations happen in real time, when you decide to surprise your fans be sure to deliver the treat within a reasonable time frame

Listen

Increase engagement by listening

Monitor daily what your customers are saying about your company whether it’s a question, concern or problem, then engage, respond and take action

Listening is so important on social media – sometimes people talk about you and not to you

You want to monitor your company’s name as a key term to highlight any comments or questions you may have missed

This allows you to spot potential followers who have not engaged with your brand before and bring them on board

Free tools to use to monitor your company: Mention, Hootsuite, Social Mention, IceRocket and TweetDeck

Listening is the best feedback from people who use your product or service on a regular basis. This will help make improvements and provide a better customer experience.

Be Knowledgeable

Customers tend to fully research a product before turning to a company on social media to ask questions prior to making a purchase

Know your products or services backwards and forwards, make sure all of your social media admins do too

Thorough knowledge of your business allows you to better assist your customers and saves you time

You can provide an immediate response to a customer with confidence rather than having to email other departments to get a confirmation

Which ever social media platform you’re using, take your time when having a conversation

Make sure you understand the customer’s situation and if required, ask more questions and can respond in a knowledgeable manner. This increases customer confidence and in return, loyalty.

Follow Up

To build long term relationships with your customers, follow up: ask them how they’re doing since your last contact

Follow up with fans who commented on a recent blog post, posted on your wall or sent you a message

Send follow-up messages to those who previously inquired about your products or service and to whom you already replied

Following up lets your customers know you’re still interested and value their time

This demonstrates that your company is reliable and genuinely cares about their customer’s happiness

Foster Trust

Easiest way to maintain the trust of your community is to keep your promises

If you tell customers you’ll respond to their messages, then make sure you do

If you do make a mistake or end up with a social media crisis, the first thing you should do is own up

Admit to the mistake and take action to resolve the situation

Let your customers know what happened and what you’re doing to fix it

Customers’ trust in your company should remain intact

You work so hard to acquire the trust of your fans and customers on social media, do whatever you can to keep it

Share Your Values

Fans on social media tend to be more loyal to a company that shares their beliefs, share updates not only around your products and services but also posts that exemplify the core values of your organization

If your company has a strong view on a particular topic or issue, share it with your community, it doesn’t have to be limited to issues within your niche

When your customers relate to your core values, they’re most likely to stay loyal to your company and cause

Creating customer loyalty on social media means developing long-term relationships with your fans. Take the time to appreciate your customers and understand their needs. Personalize their experience and reward them. Showing your customers that you value them is the most effective method to build long-term relationships. This will increase, trust, loyalty and sales.